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Wumpa

Wumpa



Has anyone tested with this card? I've been playing standard for the first time on Arena and this card is a house in Boros Weenie. I've been telling myself the old cube adage "just because it's good in standard, doesn't mean it will be good in cube", but I still feel like it fits into existing White and Red style aggro decks really well, perhaps even better suited to these decks than Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice who has mostly eaten spot removal so far even though she represents a ton of power. Bonus points for being a non-creature token maker to fuel Young Pyromancer spells decks and aristocrats decks.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I've found Travel Preparations overwhelming in my environment and switched to Reap What Is Sown. That card actually sees play, and because it's an instant, it's pretty good as well, though it's definitely not as good as Travel Prep. Incremental Growth always played very well in any environment it was in, the five mana tag is hefty, but it does swing combat wildly in your favor. I think Feat of Resistance is okay, but not as good as other protection options like Shelter and Gods Willing. Grid for Battle seems like a Travel Prep light, which is a good place to be.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Is this a card in Izzet spell matters / Jeskai spell matters?



Or is the requirement too difficult to achieve in draft?
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Velrun said:
Is this a card in Izzet spell matters / Jeskai spell matters?



Or is the requirement too difficult to achieve in draft?
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It completely depends on your environment. The Izzet Drakes deck running Arclight Phoenix in the pro tour top 8 was running 24 spells. To have that same ratio in a cube deck we would need to be running 15-16 spells, some of which have Flashback or Jump-Start. You could probably get away with running a couple fewer since you would only have a single Phoenix, but I don't think it can be cut that far down. Also, it is worth noting that every single noncreature spell in the PT deck cost either 1 or 2 mana. This high volume of low-cost spells can be hard to replicate in some environments.

For this card to be good, you need a lot of cantrips, cheap burn, and Cheap Flashback Spells. In short, Arclight Phoenix requires a lot of setup to be good. This doesn't mean it can't be good in the right deck in the right environment, but it requires jumping through some deck building hoops to work.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Velrun said:
Expensive $ wise or CMC?

If CMC then you have answered my question :) If monatery then you could proxy it up before purchasing?
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$ wise, I don't think it can be made good enough in a spells matter build to be worth the cost. I feel there's other payoffs that work better and are cheaper to acquire. Stuff like Young Pyromancer and Rise from the Tides. I think TrainmasterGT made a very succinct case for why Arclight Phoenix will be hard to pull off in cube. I could maybe see this work if you'ld squadron the Arclight Phoenix, because with just one Phoenix it doesn't look like it's worth it to jump through all those hoops. Even then, it's just a 3/2 evasive beater.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Velrun said:
Yeah I figured :( I guess I will not manage to get it into my cube. I am still in the market for more spell matters payoff but I guess three spells is too high a requirement. Thanks TrainMasterGT :)
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I've seen some people praise this one, maybe that's something you could try instead of the Phoenix?

 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Velrun said:
Yeah I figured :( I guess I will not manage to get it into my cube. I am still in the market for more spell matters payoff but I guess three spells is too high a requirement. Thanks TrainMasterGT :)
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You're welcome :).

Onderzeeboot said:
$ wise, I don't think it can be made good enough in a spells matter build to be worth the cost. I feel there's other payoffs that work better and are cheaper to acquire. Stuff like Young Pyromancer and Rise from the Tides. I think TrainmasterGT made a very succinct case for why Arclight Phoenix will be hard to pull off in cube. I could maybe see this work if you'ld squadron the Arclight Phoenix, because with just one Phoenix it doesn't look like it's worth it to jump through all those hoops. Even then, it's just a 3/2 evasive beater.
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Thank you :).
 
Laz

Laz

Developer
TrainmasterGT said:

Saw a bit of discussion on this a few pages back, but it was very short and not very in-depth. Is it better or worse than Basalt Monolith? Has anyone tested this?
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Hmm, 7 mana on turn 4 versus... potentially 10 mana on turn 5? Better control over colours in the latter scenario, but asks for a lot your manabase going in. It is also vulnerable to removal. Seems the perfect thing for something like a 5-colour green ramp deck, where it can double as a big body if the pilot doesn't draw their payoff cards.

I think you could certainly do worse than testing it, but I imagine it is pretty narrow.
 
safra

safra

TrainmasterGT said:

Saw a bit of discussion on this a few pages back, but it was very short and not very in-depth. Is it better or worse than Basalt Monolith? Has anyone tested this?
Click to expand...

I tested it very briefly and found it inelegant, even though I'd thought it would rule. It's certainly strong enough but IMO either you want to slam it asap or it rots in your hand until you're out of threats. IMO it is stronger than basalt monolith if you aren't, like, turn-1-ing it.
 
shamizy

shamizy

I've been playing with Crawler ever since it was first released, I think it's a solid card. You need to be able to consistently play it as a 4/4 for 4 for it to really be worth it, and you need to working towards something specific. If it's that big on curve, it can reasonably keep up with any big plays your opponent is making before you just go over the top for something or fire off two big spells in one turn. Also a fine hit for artifact centric decks that care about it being an artifact creature, solid roleplayer in those builds. It's definitely a little clunky, but I've had good experiences with it and I think it's worth a shot. I've used it to turbo out Emrakul, the Promised End a handful of times, my favorite deck being this one right after it was first released:

Emrakul Ungiven











*EDIT* The Mountains are lands from my ULD: Vault of Whispers, Tree of Tales, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and Temple of the False God.
 
dbs

dbs

Rowan_CB said:
Tell me about:



I've never really considered it before due to price, but I just opened one.

Seems mouth watering in a cube that runs Trinket Mage, Scrap Trawler, Auriok Salvagers, and Salvaging Station. However, I don't emphasize three + color fixing, so in most cases this will be cast with X from 0 to 2. Which still seems great? I dunno, opened a sweet card now I want you guys to talk me into running it!
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You know, I hadn't considered this card... I run double Trinket Mage with Scrap Trawler, and Salvaging Station. Plus I've been trying to limit the power level of sweepers (e.g. no 4 mana unconditional board wipes), but as a result sometimes people have trouble with the number of tokens that show up. Slice and Dice has been good in that role, but this might provide an additional solution.

I've been playing with Oblivion Stone but the card has underwhelmed me. It's either too slow, or it just wins on its own. Engineered is a bit more balanced... but it might still be a little too strong for where I want to be. Limiting the quality of removal has always usually proven to be the right choice in my environment and I keep making the mistake of breaking that rule.

Well, if my mantra is "proceed empirically" then I'll have to put it in.
 
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